S.D. SHOWS PESSIMISM IN SURVEY
People here and in Orange County are skeptical of a strong economic future in 2021
Californians are pessimistic about their economic futures and no more so than in San Diego.
A vast majority, 73 percent, of respondents in San Diego and Orange counties are anticipating bad financial times ahead in the next 12 months, said a survey released this week by the Public Policy Institute of California.
The wide-ranging study found 6 in 10 expect California’s children to be worse off financially than their parents. For purposes of the study, Orange and San Diego counties are combined in one region. The survey was online and included 2,325 Californians.
The 73 percent of residents in San Diego and Orange counties who expect bad times is higher than the statewide average of 68 percent. Inland Empire was the least pessimistic with 62 percent of respond
ents saying there will be bad times ahead. It was followed by Los Angeles at 63 percent; San Francisco Bay Area at 70 percent; and Central Valley at 72 percent.
Respondents were interviewed after the November election and likely inf luenced by the continuing COVID-19 crisis. However, the survey found most Californians approved of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handling of jobs and the economy.
While residents of the Golden State may be short on optimism, many economists are predicting good times ahead. The quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast, also released this week, anticipated robust growth following widespread vaccine availability in the spring.
Political affiliations appeared to play some role in responses in the UCLA institute’s study, with 56 percent of California Democrats expecting good times in the next five years. That compares with 35 percent of Independents and 17 percent of Republicans.
Exactly why respondents in San Diego and Orange counties appear more pessimistic is a little unclear, because some answers have them seeming more hopeful than other
parts of the state. However, they were also more likely than one or more regions to say a lack of high-paying jobs was a problem, that they would consider moving out of the state and that the wealth gap between rich and poor was growing.
Around 30 to 31 percent of respondents in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties said they were seriously considering moving away. Inland Empire respondents were the most likely to say they would move at 35 percent and the San Francisco Bay Area the least at 29 percent.
While there was very little statistical difference in how many people said they considered moving by geographic area, race appeared to make a big difference. White Californians were most likely at 37 percent to say they would move. That is compared with Latinos at 29 percent, Blacks at 27 percent and 20 percent for Asians.
That correlated with how different groups felt about the future. Seventy-six percent of White respondents said children growing up in California would be worse off than their parents. Less than half of Latinos, 47 percent, said that. But, other groups were closer to Whites with 62 percent of Black Californians saying children would be worse off and 67 percent of Asians.
Twenty-five percent of respondents in San Diego and Orange counties said the availability of high-paying jobs is a problem. That’s less than the Central Valley and Inland Empire at 31 percent each, Los Angeles with 28 percent and the San Francisco Bay Area at 21 percent.
Most Californians thought the gap between rich and poor was growing in their area, with 63 percent of Los Angeles saying the gap will be bigger by 2030. It was 62 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area; 61 percent in the Central Valley and in San Diego and Orange counties; 59 percent in the Inland Empire.
Inequality was strongly tied to race for Black Californians with 63 percent saying race and ethnicity contributes a great deal to the growing divide. It was much less for Whites, at 29 percent, and 32 percent for Asians. Thirty-six percent of Latinos said race contributed to inequality.
San Diego and Orange counties were in the middle of the pack when considering Gov. Newsom’s handling of the economy, with 55 percent approving. San Francisco Bay Area (67 percent) and Los Angeles (65 percent) were most pleased with his performance. It is a different story in other parts of the state, where Inland Empire (52 percent) and Central Valley (45 percent) said they approved.
Despite the pessimism of the future, 63 percent of respondents in San Diego and Orange counties — tied with those in San Francisco — were most likely to say their job offers opportunity for growth and advancement. That compares with 62 percent in the Central Valley, 61 percent in Los Angles and 59 percent in the Inland Empire.
Seventy-nine of respondents in San Diego and Orange counties said they would approve increased job training, but it wasn’t as much as in Los Angeles (88 percent), the Inland Empire (87 percent) and San Francisco Bay Area (87 percent).
San Francisco appeared to have a leg up on employersponsored job training with 65 percent saying they had access to the perk. Around half of respondents in all of the regions said they had access to training assistance.